


Four's A Crowd

by telperion_15



Category: Primeval
Genre: Angst, Episode Tag, Implied Relationships, M/M, Series Tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-31
Updated: 2012-01-31
Packaged: 2017-10-30 10:27:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/330727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/telperion_15/pseuds/telperion_15
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The aftermath of Helen's revelation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four's A Crowd

**Author's Note:**

> This fic holds the dubious honour of being my first ever _Primeval_ fic...
> 
> Spoilers for episode 1.06.

“Cutter.”

Nick continued to stare out of the window.

“Cutter.”

The view from his office was quite good, really. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed it before.

“Nick!”

“What?!”

He couldn’t ignore Stephen any more – not when the man was standing right behind him and practically yelling in his ear, anyway.

But now that he had Nick’s attention Stephen didn’t seem to know what to do with it. He just stood there looking slightly lost, and more than a little upset.

Nick made a disgusted noise and stepped around Stephen so he could get to his desk. Sitting down, he tried to involve himself in sorting the piles of paperwork that had, inevitably, accumulated while he had been off fighting monsters.

“I’m sorry, okay.”

“And just what exactly are you sorry about?” asked Nick. His voice was soft, but nonetheless had a certain steely quality about it. “Are you sorry you slept with my wife? Are you sorry that I found out about it? Or perhaps you’re sorry you didn’t accompany her on her little field trip!” He was yelling now, and without really realising it he had grabbed one of the fossil specimens that littered his desk.

Stephen ducked as the fossil hurtled towards him, and there was a crash as it hit the wall somewhere behind his left shoulder. He was a little angry himself now, and he let Nick know it.

“Christ, Nick, it was over eight years ago. It was a mistake, but it happened, and I can’t change it now.”

Nick just glared at him, clearly not accepting this as a good excuse.

“And besides, you and Helen haven’t exactly been the best of friends since she returned. Bit of a double-standard, don’t you think?” Stephen paused, trying to get a handle on the situation. “Look, you and Helen are over. You must be able to see that. But if you weren’t – I mean, if she’d come back to you properly instead of just flitting in and out of your life like a ghost – then you wouldn’t have had to worry about me. There’s no way I’d ever come between you if you’d really wanted to be with each other.”

Suddenly Nick’s anger vanished, to be replaced by a look of utter weariness and defeat. Collapsing back into his chair, he dropped his head into his hands.

“Shit,” he muttered. “When did it all get so complicated? You and Helen and Claudia…”

“Nick, I don’t know who this Claudia is,” interrupted Stephen gently, “but was there something going on there? Is that why you and Helen weren’t…” He trailed off, not really wanting to consider the idea of Nick and this woman Claudia, whoever she was.

“Yes. No. I don’t know,” replied Nick, sounding confused. “Everything is just in such a mess. And now Claudia is gone, and we need to get her back, and I don’t know what to do.”

“We will get Claudia back,” Stephen reassured him. “If you say she should exist, then I believe you, and we’ll find a way to solve this. But if we do bring her back, does that mean that Helen and…does that mean that Helen will be out of your life completely?”

Finally, Nick raised his head from his hands, his silent look addressing Stephen’s unspoken ‘and’.

“Helen is out of my life,” he said after a few seconds. “Maybe not practically, but definitely emotionally. I realise that now. I think that was what the thing with Claudia was all about – trying to hurt Helen like she had hurt me. Until, today, I realised that I didn’t care enough any more to want to hurt her. And she didn’t care enough to be hurt. And hasn’t for a long time, apparently.”

Stephen winced at this veiled reference to his past behaviour. “Look,” he began again, “I really am sorry…”

“Forget it,” interrupted Nick. “Like you said, it’s in the past. And you were right. I haven’t exactly led a blameless existence since she disappeared. Neither of us has.”

He stood up and walked around the desk to stand in front of Stephen. “Just tell me one thing. Tell me you haven’t stayed with me in some kind of misguided effort to feel closer to _her_.”

Stephen looked slightly shocked. “No, that isn’t it at all. I’ve stayed with you because you’re _you_. Nick Cutter. I don’t want to be anywhere else. Admittedly, Helen coming back threw me for a loop a little bit. But then, it did that to you too.   She seems to have a way of confusing the issue, doesn’t she?” He smiled a little, and Nick smiled back.

“She does that,” he agreed. Then he laughed. “I can’t believe you called her a bitch!” he chuckled. “You should have seen her face after you walked away. Absolutely priceless!”

“Sorry I missed that!” replied Stephen. Then he turned serious again. “Does this mean that we’re alright now?”

“Yes,” confirmed Nick. “We are absolutely alright. And now we’ve got the big issue out of the way, we can turn our attention to solving the little problems – like bringing Claudia back from whatever time paradox she’s got herself stuck in.”

Although he tried, Stephen couldn’t prevent the small frown that crossed his face at the mention of Claudia’s name. Nick noticed.

“And when we have got her back, I will tell her that what was between us was a mistake, apologise, and then everything can go back to normal. Which means Nick Cutter and Stephen Hart saving the world from big scary monsters. Together.”


End file.
